Bleached Horizon
by Shadowsoken
Summary: AU. Ichigo, Tatsuki, Rukia, Renji, Chad, and Uryu are racers at heart. Nothing can compare to the adrenaline rush of racing, the screaming of engines, and the roars of the crowd. The team of six enter the racing festival to prove that they are the best of the best, and nothing will stop them.
1. The Garage

Chapter 1. The Garage

The sun was out, shining happily down on the land, with only a few lazy, wispy clouds drifting around in the sky. Mountains were in the distance, rolling hills of green up closer, broken only by the ribbons of black road that wound their way through. On one such road, such a peaceful scene was broken quite abruptly by a large building with loud rock music playing over the speakers.

The large sliding doors of the building itself were open, showing off a mouth-watering display of cars sitting inside. Some of said cars were up on a lift, others were sitting on the ground, and most of them needed a bit of work. Some needed a motor, some a transmission, one needed both, one needed brakes, a couple of them needed a differential in the back, and more than one of them needed the wiring.

A couple of the cars, however, didn't need as much work. Near one of the doors sat a black 1973 Dodge Challenger R/T, and a young man lay underneath it, having just finished the alignment. As he started to pull himself out from under the car, a girl yelled his name from across the shop. Hearing that voice, he cracked a grin, knowing exactly who it was.

Orange hair became visible, topping warm amber eyes, which sat over a small grin that would melt any girl's heart, and as he stood up, his 5'9" frame seemed perfectly suited for someone who studied martial arts. Well, he did, but only to defend himself from the punks at school who thought he was a punk. On the left side of his blue shirt was a large black "15" with two red lines running through it, and light blue jeans hung off lean hips. Brown lace up boots completed the look, one which many girls found insanely attractive. Faking a yawn, he made his way over to the opposite corner of the shop, where several people were sitting around on a couch, various comfy-looking armchairs that somehow managed to look like they belonged, and in one case, a giant beanbag.

"Hey Strawberry, long time no see," said a black haired girl sitting on the couch, grinning up at her longtime friend.

"Yo, Tatsuki. Sorry I haven't been around much, been busy working on Zangetsu over there." Ichigo, grimacing slightly at said girl's nickname for him, ran a hand through his orange hair before grinning back at her. "We did an engine and transmission swap, put new gears in the rear end, put in a rollcage, put in a new suspension and brake system, added a spoiler, put in new headlights, tie rods, and new tires."

"Eh, that's ok, we've been busy with our own rides." Tatsuki's eyes flicked over to the other person on the couch, a tall, dark skinned man with shaggy dark hair. The man grunted an affirmative, one eye showing between his bangs. "Chad's been busy helping me out, so we're almost ready to go, about the only thing left is the wiring."

"Well, It's not like we sat around with our thumbs up our asses, you know. We DO have quite a productive shop here." A red haired man leaned forward in his seat, a Red Bull energy drink on his hand. The tattoos where his eyebrows should have been made him seem like he was glaring, but the grin on his face said otherwise. "Ichigo's car definitely needed the most work, but lots of other work has been put in on the other cars in here."

"No shit, Renji. Judging by the various parts that aren't in many of the cars in here, I'd say you guys were kept pretty busy." Tatsuki smirked at the tattooed man, who simply scowled back at her.

"Hey now, since the last time you visited us, we've had lots of cars come through here! Most of them only needed an oil change, or a brake job, but we do check them over for anything else wrong with them, just like a normal shop." Pausing to take a swig of his drink, Renji turned to Ichigo. "How is Zangetsu doing? That engine doing any better than the last one?"

"Yeah, the engine is doing fine, lots more power than I'd expected. Did a dyno pull the other day, anyone care to guess what the numbers were?" Ichigo grinned, looking around the group, waiting to see who would start the guessing.

"The engine block and parts did come from Urahara's, didn't it? That said, I'm guessing that you're near 600 horsepower and 550 pound-feet of torque. It's hard to imagine anything less than that." This came from a young man named Uryu, sitting in an armchair across from Renji. He had straight raven black hair that parted to one side, glasses that he pushed up with two fingers, and dark blue eyes that stared intently at Ichigo.

Ichigo smirked, glancing sideways at a young woman sitting on the arm of Renji's chair. She grinned back, knowing exactly why Ichigo was so pleased with his car. "No, Uryu. Try almost 700 horses and 650 pound-feet. It really makes 692 horsepower to the back wheels, so factoring in drivetrain losses, it's got around 770 horses under the hood."

The woman sitting on Renji's armchair took one look at Uryu's shocked face and busted out laughing. Seeing the shock plastered on Tatsuki's face as well only made her laugh harder, while Renji let out a "Heh" of laughter, a smirk on his face as well. "Urahara really hooked you up this time, didn't he," Renji said, looking at Ichigo. Seeing Ichigo's nod, he looked at the woman sitting on the side of his chair. "Hey Rukia, how much did it cost Ichigo to get that engine? Somewhere in the neighborhood of free, wasn't it?"

Rukia stopped laughing, pulled out a notepad, and started flipping through it. After a minute, she nodded, and said, "Yeah, Urahara gave it to Ichigo on the condition that he participate in the upcoming music festival, but I don't think Ichigo heard him, since he was too busy drooling over the motor to listen."

Ichigo pouted at Rukia, saying, "Of course I heard him. I agreed, didn't I?" He looked over at Chad and Tatsuki and said, "That's why I've called you two here today. Rukia, Renji, and I are putting together a team to compete in the upcoming festival, and we want you two to be part of it. Rukia's brother, Byakuya, is handling the management of our team, and he suggested making a team to race in. We will be getting the details of the festival at a later date, but we do know that there is a racing scene centered around a music festival, and it's going to be huge! Like, hundreds of racers huge! What do you say? Wanna be part of it?"

Tatsuki rolled her eyes. "Duh, of course I want to be part of it! What do you take me for?" Chad simply nodded.

Ichigo grinned again. "Excellent. We'll have to get your cars up to racing spec, but it shouldn't take too much to do so. Tats, if you bring your car into the shop, we can start working on it right away, you too Chad. Rukia, your car needs a new transmission, so put that on the list of things to do. Renji, your car needs new tires, your old ones are shredded. Also, your new 4.10 racing gears are in, so get your car on the lift and put them in. It's only," he checked his phone, "eleven in the morning, so let's get to work!"

"Hey, Kurosaki, what about me?" Uryu asked. "I don't exactly have a car to race in at the moment, but I will by next week."

"Don't be stupid, Uryu, of course you're on the team." Ichigo smirked, "We'll need your skills both here in the shop and out on the road." Rukia snickered, and said, "Don't forget, your driving is second only to Ichigo here. Even Renji can't match you on the corners." Renji nodded in agreement.

Uryu nodded once, and pulled out his phone. "Alright, I'll text Rukia the information on the car that I'm getting. It's a 2013 Chevrolet Camaro SS, and the guy I'm buying it from says it's completely stock, so we'll have some work to do."

Rukia nodded as well, writing the information down on her notepad. "Alright, Tatsuki, Chad, hurry up with your cars. Put them in bays 5 and 6, Ichigo and Renji will help you. Uryu, you're with me, we need to clear those bays so they can put their cars in."

Everyone nodded, having a set task to complete, and dispersed, with Ichigo, Tatsuki, Chad, and Renji heading outside to grab the cars. Uryu headed into the office to grab the keys to the two cars in bays five and six, while Rukia went to the cars themselves to make sure they could be moved.


	2. Planning Mods

Chapter 2. "Planning upgrades"

30 minutes later, with Rukia and Uryu having done the car dance to get bays 5 and 6 cleared out, Tatsuki's car was situated in bay 5, and Chad's was in bay 6. Ichigo grabbed a notepad to write on, and started looking over the car, a 1999 Ford Mustang GT. A few minutes later, with the pad full of notes on what needed to be done, he called Tatsuki over.

"Alright, well, your car is pretty well situated, but you'll need a new engine and transmission to stay competitive, as well as a new suspension and brakes. I'd recommend putting in a Windsor 302 mated to a Tremec 6060 6-speed trans. As for suspension, Fox Racing makes a damn good kit, and since you already have a Ford 9-inch rear end, we'll just add in a Limited Slip differential to help with traction. Brembo brakes will round out the package, and we'll put in a rollcage for added safety. Anything else is up to you, so tell me what you want and we'll get it on the list."

Tatsuki thought for a minute, then snapped her fingers. "What can we do for weight savings?"

"We can take out the rear seat, spare tire, the speaker system –"

"No, leave the speakers." An eyebrow was raised at that. "What? I paid good money for them! You of all people should know that a Pioneer system isn't cheap!"

"Alright, so the rear seat, spare tire, and we'll put in bucket seats. The new engine and trans will decrease the weight even more, and the new suspension components are lighter weight than the stock parts, so weight will go down even more."

Tatsuki nodded. "How about new tires? These are pretty skinny."

Ichigo narrowed his eyes in thought. "We'll go with some new rims, that'll offset the weight of thicker tires. Cooper Tires makes a damn good tire, so that's what we'll go with."

Tatsuki grinned. "Alright, let's get to work!" Ichigo nodded and went over to the computer to start ordering parts.

Meanwhile, Renji was staring at a slate grey 2009 Dodge Ram 1500 parked in bay 6. Chad had already started doing upgrades to it, having put the Ram Runner kit on. Nodding to himself, Renji started writing on the notepad he had in his hands, making notes over the truck.

"Alright Chad," Renji handed the notepad to him. "It looks like the only real thing to do is put a rollcage in, just in case. You'll be taking care of the offroad section along with Uryu, so we need to take every safety measure available. We'll add another spare as well, and another rear driveshaft in case you break the one you've got."

Chad nodded, looking over the list. "It looks like you want an engine swap. We can put in the HEMI 6.2L V8 without too much difficulty."

Renji grinned, and pointed to the headlights. "We'll also put in some IPF high power headlights, to help with night racing." Chad nodded again. "Alright, let's get started. Looks like Ichigo is already ordering parts, so we can go pick up some metal for your rollcage. We'll take your truck and see how it handles so far, and depending on that, we'll fine tune it for the races."


End file.
